Improved water-wheel



UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TAYLOR LAKIN, OF HANCOCK, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVED WATER-WHEEL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,268, dated October13, 1863.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, TAYLOR D. LAKIN, of Hancock, in the county ofHillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in -Water- Wheels and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of my invention,taken in the line 00 m, Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a horizontal section of thesame, taken in the line y y, Fig. 1 Fig. 3, a vertical section of a partpertaining to the same, taken in the line 2 2, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention relates to certain improvements in water-wheels of thatclass which are attached to a vertical shaft and are inclosed by ascroll.

The invention consists in a novel manner of applying a gate and aball-governor to the wheel, whereby the speed of the same may beregulated as desired.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention, I will proceed to desciibe it.

A represents the scroll of the wheel, which is of semicircular form inits transverse sec tion, or it may embrace rather more than asemicircle, as shown in Fig. 1. This scroll is connected or cast with acylindrical chamber, 13, the latter being below the former and equal tothe diameter of the wheel G. The scroll A may be cast in two horizontalparts, a b, and connected together by bolts 0, the chambcr B being castwith the lower part, b, of the scroll, or all the aforesaid parts may becast in one piece. The orifice of the scroll A is provided with aflange, d, to which the flume or induction-pipe D is attached by bolts.The pipe D near its junction with the scrollis provided wth a gate, E,which may be arranged in any proper way.

F represents the wheel shaft, the lower end of which is fitted on apoint or pin, 6, at the center of the bottom of the chamber B, as shownin Fig. 1, the upper end of said shaft having a vertical pin, f, fittedin it, which pin passes through a horizontal arm, 9, attached to avertical post, G. The wheel 0 is the shaft.

formed of two annular plates, h h, placed one directly over the other,with buckets i placed tangentially between them at equal distancesapart. The buckets i are planes, and have atangential position with thecentral opening of the plate h h, as shown clearly in Fig.2. The lowerplate, h, is secured to plate H, which is firmly keyed or otherwiseattached to the shaft F, and the central part, j, of the plate H is ofconical form, the outer part, k, to which the plate h is secured, beinga horizontal plane surface. (See Fig. 1.) The plate H, it will be seen,is the means by which the wheel is attached to Whenthe wheel is placedin the scroll A, the lower plate, h, of the former is flush with thelower and inner edge, I, of the scroll, and is fitted as snugly withinsaid edge as may be without creating undue friction. The upper plate, h,is fitted in a like manner within the upper and inner edge, m, of thescroll. (See Fig. l.)

I is a faucet or cock, which is fitted in the lower partof the chamberB.

J is a circular or annular gate,which is formed by a conical tube, u,placed loosely on the wheel-shaft F. The lower internal part of the tubeu is of flarin g form, corresponding to the conical part j of the plateH, on which it is fitted. To the edge of the lower end of the tube athere are attached a series of vertical plates, 0, at equal distancesapart. These plates are equal in width to the spaces 19, be tween theinner ends of the buckets, and the edges of said plates are beveled asshown at q, so that when the plates are in line with the buckets i theedges of the same will not offer any obstruction to the water, as thelatter passes into the interior of the wheel. (See Fig. 2.) The upperedges of theplates 0 are connected by a ring, 1", which fits snuglywithin the upper plate, h, of the wheel. This gate, thus formed of theconical tube 20, plates 0, and ring r, may all be cast in one piece. Theplates 0 work snugly against the inner edges of the buckets i, and itwill be noticed that the bevel of the inner ends of the buckets i andthe widh of the plates 0 exactly correspond in size, so that when theplates 0 are open their edges stand in line with the planes,

of the bucket-s i, and the said plates 0, when thus placed, form, ineffect, inward extensions or continuations of the buckets -27. Thisconstruction permits the flow of the water in the n most directmanner,with the least obstruc tion.

On the upper end of the conical tube a of the gate J there is secured acollar, s, having two horizontal arms,t t, projecting from it atopposite points, both of which are shown in Fig. 3, and KK are twolevers,the lower ends of which are connected to the outer parts of thearms t t. The upper ends of the leversK K are fitted loosel y on shaftsu a, which are placed in a cross-head, L, the latter being sesured onthe wheel-shaft F. 0n the shafts u u there are also fitted loosely twoarms, M M, which project from the wheel-shaft F at opposite sides, andhave balls N N at their outer ends. On the wheel shaft F there is alsoplaced a sliding collar, 0, which has a cross bar, 21, attached to itsunder side. This crossbar projects horizontally from the collar at equaldistances from two opposite points, as shown clearly in Fig. 1. Theball-arms M M are connected to the ends of the cross-bar v by two arms,to it. These arms are connected to the bar 2; by pivots a and they areconnected to the ball-arms M by being fitted on pins I), which projecthorizontally from the arms M. Each lever K has a curved or segment bar,0, attached to it, and the outer ends of the bar a are slotted orprovided with a loop, 01. Through these loops, screws 6 pass into thepins 11, and the loops bear against collars j", which are fitted looselyon the pins 1). The collar 0 has a grooved periphery in which the forkedend of a lever, P, is fitted, the fulcrum g of the latter being in thelower end of a pendent bar, Q, attached to the arm g of post G. (SeeFig. 1.)

From the above description it will be seen that when the wheel is atrest the balls N will by their gravity keep the plates 0 of the gate Jinline with the buckets i, and conseqently the spaces or issues 12between the inner edges of the buckets will be fully open, the ball-armsM M acting upon the gate J in consequence of being connected to thelevers K K through the medium of the curved bars 0 c, and the levers K Kacting upon the arms t t of the collar 8 on the upper end of the tube aof the gate J. \Nhen the wheel is in motion, the balls N, under an unduespeed of the wheel, have a tendency to rise, and the ballarms M willturn or move the gate J, so that the plates 0 will covermore or less ofthe issues 1), and by this means a uniform rotation of the wheel isinsured. By adjusting the arms M M higher or lower in the loops d d ofthe bars 0 c, the governor will bemade to give out and maintain higheror lower rates of speed of the water-wheel com mensurate with theheightof the head of water under which the wheel is placed, for by theadjustment of said arms the plane of the revolution of the balls may beso disposed as to move the gate or open and close the issues, so as torender the rota tion of the wheel constant under different rates ofspeed. This adjustment of the arms is of course only once required, andthat is when the wheel is first put up and placed in working order bythe millwright. The lever P serves as a means for the operator to raiseand lower the balls of the governor, so as to stop the wheel entirely orto cause it to revolve faster than the governor otherwise would permitit to do. This forms a convenient device for temporarily controlling theaction of the wheel. The gate E is used when it is necessary to shut offthe water from the scroll A. When the wheel is running, a sufficiency ofwater will leak through into the chamber B between the plate h and edgeI of the scroll to.fill the chamber and press upward against the underside of plate h and the plate H, and this upward pressure relieves thepoint or pin e of the gravity of the wheel. This upward pressure of thewater against the plates H h may be regulated as desired by turning thefaucet or cock I so that more or less water may escape from the chamberB. r

The action of the water on the wheel and its course through the latteris indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and 2. It will be seen that thewater passes through the issues p into the center of the wheel and outover the upper plate, I), thereof, and the scroll A and the wheel willoperate when submerged. The level of the water, however, should notquite reach the top of the tube a of the gate J, as the arms t t shouldnot be in contact with the water.

I would remark that the lower part of the tube a has a curved slot, a",made in it to receive a pin, b*, on plate H. This slot and pin serve asa stop to limit the circular movement of the gate J. (See Fig. 2.)

I do not claim, broadly, the employment of ball-governors, sleeves,andadjustable gates in water-wheels but,

Having thus described my invention, what 1 claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is- P The construction and arrangement of theplates 0 and the inner ends of the buckets i in the manner herein shownand described, so that the said plates when open will form inwardcontinuations of the buckets, all as set forth.

TAYLOR D. LAKIN.

Witnesses:

M. S. PARTRIDGE, DANIEL ROBERTSON.

